PRAIRIE GROVE -- Blackhawk dreams of taking a No. 1 seed into the District 4A-1 boys basketball tournament faded with a 59-56 loss at Prairie Grove Tuesday, Feb. 7.
"Pea Ridge, we know what kind of a team they are," said Prairie Grove coach Steve Edmiston. "Defensively, we did a decent job challenging (shots). Offensively, the key for us was patience. Not necessarily slowing the game down or stalling, just being patient."
Pea Ridge^19^10^8^19—^56
Prairie Grove^17^13^16^13—^59
Pea Ridge (23-2, 16-1): Joey Hall 4 3-3 14, Matt Thomas 3 7-12 14, Kobe Rose 3 0-0 9, Britton Caudill 2 2-6 7, Cole Wright 2 0-0 5, Westin Church 2 0-0 5, Hayden Holtgrewe 0 2-4 2. Totals 16 14-25 56.
Prairie Grove (11-13, 10-7): Will Pridmore 6 6-6 22, Demarkus Cooper 5 1-1 11, Zeke Laird 4 0-1 11, Isaac Disney 3 1-4 7, Taylor Moore 2 1-2 5, D.J. Pearson 1 0-0 2, Cameron Simmons 0 1-2 1. Totals 21 10-16 59.
3-Point Goals — Pea Ridge 10 (Hall 3, Rose 3, Caudill, Church, Thomas, Wright), Prairie Grove 7 (Pridmore 4, Laird 3)
Pea Ridge sank 3-pointers by Britton Caudill and Joey Hall to start the game. They contested every in-bounds play, having throttled Prairie Grove off numerous turnovers on in-bounds plays in a 74-43 rout Jan. 10. Not this time.
Prairie Grove senior Zeke Laird took an in-bounds pass and determinedly drove the length of the court, finishing with a layup to get the Tigers on the board. Prairie Grove nearly matched Pea Ridge point-for-point in the first quarter. Despite hitting four treys, the Blackhawks only led 19-17.
Edmiston called for the Tigers to reset their offense on the opening possession of the second quarter. They paid heed and Demarkus Cooper's old-fashioned 3-point play pushed Prairie Grove into the lead, at 20-19. Their 10-0 run included Taylor Moore's turnaround shot off the glass and Will Pridmore's third trey on a pass from Cooper to extend Prairie Grove's lead to 25-19.
Pea Ridge used a 10-5 run over the last 2:11 of the second quarter to trim Prairie Grove's lead to 30-29 at halftime. Cole Wright had a 3-pointer and Westin Church added a layup. Wright gave the Blackhawks a brief lead of 31-30 with a steal and lay-in to start the third, but Pridmore set up Laird for a 3-pointer and Prairie Grove recaptured the lead.
"We just kept our heads up this time, we played a lot smarter," Pridmore said.
Prairie Grove increased the margin to 12. Isaac Disney took a defensive rebound coast-to-coast for a layup giving the Tigers their biggest lead of 46-34. Kobe Rose hit a 3-pointer to narrow the gap to 46-37 going into the fourth quarter. In the final frame, Cooper's driving layup kept the difference of 10 points at 50-40 at the 5:52 mark. Pea Ridge then began a furious rally started by Matt Thomas' free throws and Hall's third 3-pointer. The Blackhawks made the contest a one-possession game on a Thomas free throw with 3:11 to go, then tied the game on Church's 3-point shot.
The Blackhawks pounded the offensive glass and missed three free throws that would have given them the lead. Cooper finally cleared a defensive board leading to Laird's 3-pointer and the Tigers were up, 54-51, with 1:43 left. Caudill's free throws reduced the margin to 54-53, but the Tigers beat full-court pressure with Laird passing to Cooper, who went in for a layup and a 56-53 Tiger edge.
Pea Ridge in-bounded under their own bucket after a rebound went out off the Tigers only to have Pridmore steal the ball. He was fouled and sank both shots of the double bonus. Prairie Grove came away empty on their next trip to the foul line and Thomas cranked up a trey pulling the Blackhawks within, 58-56, with 12 seconds remaining. Pea Ridge coach Trent Lloyd stopped the clock by calling time-out saving 11.6 seconds. Prairie Grove was able to burn seven seconds before Disney was fouled. He made one of two leaving the Blackhawks 4.4 seconds to work with.
Hall got off a 3-point attempt that bounced off the rim as the horn sounded and Prairie Grove won, 59-56.
The loss, Pea Ridge's first in conference play, reduced the Blackhawks to the No. 2 seed at district. Huntsville (13-0) in league play while competing in a separate regular season district, drew No. 1.
Sports on 02/15/2017